IMAX CEO Thinks 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour' Movie Could Have $100 Million Opening Weekend

The concert movie edition of "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" was already tracking to have the biggest opening weekend ever for a concert movie and become the highest-grossing concert movie in cinematic history. Now, based on figures and comments from IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, it looks like those earlier projections will also be shattered.

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The upcoming concert movie for Taylor Swift's current worldwide tour is scheduled to screen in IMAX theaters starting next month. Speaking to Yahoo! Finance, IMAX CEO Gelfond noted that ticket presales for the concert movie are now well over $65 million. He also predicted that the film's opening weekend could be as high as "$100 million," which would be a staggering figure and great for movie theaters in a very uncertain time when consumer viewing habits have significantly changed. Theaters are still trying to cover in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just a few days ago, Deadline reported that ticket presales for the film were in the range of $37 million just from Day 1 ticket sales. That means the concert film sold more tickets on the first day of presales than "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" did in 2015. Deadline was also projecting a $70 million opening weekend for the film. If these latest figures from Gelfond hold, "The Eras Tour" film looks like it will even shatter those initial projections.

The Miley Cyrus concert movie, "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," currently holds the record for the most enormous box office opening weekend for a concert movie at $31 million. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" has the highest domestic total at $73 million. Swift's film will have a higher opening than "Never Say Never" next month.

Currently, Miley Cyrus has the highest opening weekend record for a music concert film with "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," which opened to $31 million in 2008, finishing with $65 million domestically. Justin Bieber came in second for the opening for "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" at $29.5 million, but it has the highest domestic total at $73 million.

Gelfond noted to Yahoo! Finance that Swift fans and moviegoers want to check out the film in the IMAX format because they want "a premium concert experience." He added, "People are flocking to IMAX because they want something different than sitting in front of their home screen and streaming." While fans who might not have been unlucky enough to see one of Swift's concert performances live, watching it in a premium IMAX format, rather than on their computers or smartphones, is likely the next best thing.

The concert movie is currently looking at about 350 sellouts for IMAX for its opening weekend. With the demand for tickets for Swift's latest tour being so incredibly high, Swift is presenting a theatrical movie version of the concert to make it more accessible. The demand for the new concert film has been so astronomical that movie studios are moving some significant releases away from it, as it appears the concert event will take over the theatrical box office scene in October.

Universal and Jason Blum's new sequel to "The Exorcist," "The Exorcist: Believer," already had its release date moved to October 6 to get ahead of the concert film. "Dumb Money," Sony Pictures and filmmaker Craig Gillespie's exploration of the real-life GameStop short stock saga, then had to move up its release date to September 29 to keep it further away from "The Exorcist: Believer" and "The Eras Tour."

It looks like "The Eras Tour" movie is now on track to become not just the most significant concert movie event in history, but it could also become one of the biggest theatrical releases of the year. AMC Theaters is serving as the distributor for the new cinematic concert event, which Sam Wrench directs. "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" debuts in theaters on October 13.